Social Scientists Map Chicago

Social Scientists Map Chicago

Geographer Chauncy Harris often argued that Chicago in the first
half of the 20th century was the most studied city in the world.
This claim is unprovable, but there were certainly an enormous
number of scholarly studies of Chicago between the 1920s and the
middle of the 20th century. Many of these included maps.

This Web site provides links to a few of the social science maps
of Chicago that are held as separate pieces by the University of
Chicago Library's Map Collection.

Included here are several products of the "Chicago School of
Sociology" including the Social Base Map of Chicago; a
group of anonymous neighborhood maps; several maps of land use or
land value by (or connected with) Homer Hoyt; and maps from books
by Frederic Thayer on gangs, Walter Reckless on "vice," and
Clifford Shaw on crime. These maps were created during the 1920s
and the 1930s, at more or less the same time as another Chicago
School product, the Social Science
Research Committee census maps. It is arguable that, at the
moment of their creation, the Chicago School maps made up the most
wide-ranging cartographic portrait of an urban area that had ever
been compiled.

Also included are several of geographer Harold Mayer's railroad
maps; anthropologist Sol Tax's manuscript cartographic
representation of blockbusting in the Hyde Park area; and other
maps as well.

We acknowledge that most of the maps included are not
cartographic masterpieces, but they all convey information that
could not be presented in any other format. The maps are listed
below in order of date of situation.

The maps were scanned at 400 dpi and saved as tiff files, which
were converted to run on the Web under a program called Zoomify.
You need Flash to take advantage of this software. To zoom in and
out, use the scale bar to the left of the Zoomify screen or click
once on the map to zoom in. To move around, hold the left mouse
button down and drag either the location rectangle or the map
itself. To see a larger image, click on the "Click here for full
screen" button on the top left of each page. You would do well to
be somewhat patient in using this software. In particular, wait
until the image comes into focus before attempting a new
command.

Several people contributed to the construction of this Web site.
Justin Rounds of the Digital Library Development Center helped with
the programming. The Digital Media Laboratory let Map Collection
staff use its new Contex Crystal XL42 scanner, and Dale Mertes of
the Digital Media Lab provided an enormous amount of assistance.
Joost Dupon of the Map Collection did most of the scanning. Sheldon
Lyke of the Map Collection did some of the record manipulation.
Andrew Abbott of the University of Chicago's Department of
Sociology made useful suggestions about what might be included.

Nearly all the maps were created in 1923 or later, and hence are
subject to the provisions of U.S. copyright law. You should not
reproduce the maps without obtaining the consent of the copyright
holders. We are very grateful to the organizations and individuals
who gave permission to put these maps on the Web: the University of
Chicago's Dept. of Sociology, the University of Chicago Press,
Jonathan Mayer, Judith Mayer, Marianna Tax Choldin, and Susan Tax
Freeman.

Thousands of additional social science maps of Chicago can be
found in scholarly journals and books. There are also numerous
social science maps of Chicago at the Encyclopedia of
Chicago Website.

--CW

Image

Title Information

Subject Headings

Description

Map of Chicago, showing original subdivisions, 1830 to 1843 /
prepared by Homer Hoyt from ante-fire plats of the Chicago Title
and Trust Company.

Map no. VII showing places of residence of 7541 alleged male
offenders placed in the Cook County jail during the year 1920,
17-75 years of age / prepared by research sociologists ; Behavior
Research Fund, Chicago.

Map no. III showing addresses of 8591 alleged male juvenile
delinquents dealt with by the juvenile police probation officers
during the year 1927, ten to seventeen years of age / prepared by
research sociologists ; Behavior Research Fund, Chicago.

Community areas of Chicago as adopted by Census Bureau, 1930,
showing juvenile delinquency rates / map prepared by Louis B.
Narowski under direction of Louis Wirth and Nathan Bodin for the
Social Science Research Committee, University of Chicago.